Essentials

The hardware for this course is designed to be portable. As a result of the extreme miniaturization of the components, however, the items are fragile and must be treated with the utmost care.

Editing must be performed with the camera mounted on its tripod. Under no circumstances leave the camera resting on a table. The camera is connected to the tripod via a threaded iron adaptor that can be removed for hand-held shooting. For editing, replace the adaptor, which has an arrow indicating front ("lens"), by screwing it back in to the bottom of the camera. Familiarize yourself with the tripod's trigger mechanism in order to be sure that the camera is securely connected to the tripod.

Editing is best performed with the LCD screen at a 45 degree angle. Carefully open the screen attachment on the left hand side of the unit, to reveal playback controls. The screen will snap into 90 degree and 180 degree positions. Do not attempt to force it through 360 degrees. At 180 degrees it will display the image being monitored next to the lens. This is convenient for self-portraiture, etc.

To insert a Mini DV cassette, slide the open/eject button on the bottom of the unit and wait until the carriage mechanism appears. Insert your cassette and press the carriage down. Do not try to push the extended mechanism in, however. The carriage retracts automatically. Once it has retracted fully, close the case and, if necessary, replace the tripod adaptor.

These cameras are designed for right-handed users, and even for right-handed users it takes practice to reduce camera shake and to zoom in and out smoothly. Recording is initiated by pressing the red record button with your thumb, while the zoom control is operated by your index finger.

Connect the camera to the editing station PC using the Firewire connecting cable.

To power up the unit, press in the green lock on the power switch (right hand side) and switch (down) to "camera" mode.

Camera mode is used for shooting video; VCR mode is used for review.

In Adobe Premiere, choose File > capture > movie capture. If your computer is correctly configured, a monitor screen should appear, monitoring in real time. Audio should also be engaged.

The correct capture settings in Premiere are DV/IEEE1394 capture.

You should be able to achieve results like this immediately:

Exercises for today:

Try to produce a short clip explaining that this is week 5 of the course and that you are testing the camera for the first time. Explain what else you are doing in a clip of ten to 20 seconds.

For a good primer on using Movie Maker, please check out the link below:

An Introduction to Windows Movie Maker

Give the clip a name. It will save automatically to the project bin.

Drag the clip from the bin into the video A track on the timeline

Save your work. You should now have a file you can embed in a web page.